


Inked Heart ((Reigisa Week 3, Day Five: Body Modification))

by SquaryQ



Series: Reigisa C@ck [3]
Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Tattoo Parlor, Alternate Universe - Tattoos, Banter, Body Modification, Epistolary, First Tattoo, Friendship, M/M, Original Character(s), POV Original Character, Reigisa Week, Starbucks, Tattoos, tattoo artist - Freeform, the tattoo artist and the barista
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-14
Updated: 2016-01-14
Packaged: 2018-05-13 23:19:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5720785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SquaryQ/pseuds/SquaryQ
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mikoshiba Kei's Log:<br/>Today was a weird day, but when you work with Sei...every day is a weird day.<br/>.<br/>.<br/>.<br/>Mikoshiba Kei, twenty three years old, art school graduate, and tattoo artist at Mikoshiba Sei's shop, Inked Heart. You would think, as his cousin, Kei would be used to the madness that comes from Mikoshiba Sei and his siblings, Mei and Momo. You would have thought wrong. With her family, Kei will never have a "normal day at the office".</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Mikoshiba Kei's Log: The Intern's First Day

Mikoshiba Kei's Log:

Today was a weird day, but when you work with Sei...every day is a weird day...today our new intern begun work with us..

.

.

.

Sei had told me that he had hired an intern. He's apparently good with his hands, but in this store, you have to be. Sei had has his friend Sera check our skills before each of us were hired. I've been working at Sei's tattoo shop for a few years now. I'm still the newest edition to the team. Seems weird that Sei would take on any interns. Especially when the shop is already strong but clearly this newbie has something to bring to the table, if he didn't, he wouldn't be working in Mikoshiba Sei's tattoo shop, Inked Heart. We have a reputation to uphold! 

I didn't know what I had been expecting when I had been told about the new intern, I just knew I hadn't been expecting who claimed to be this intern to actually be the guy Sei chose. Namely because about a year ago, I did a tattoo on him. I remember it being of a small orca swimming on with "Hayato" written beneath it. 

"Hello! Long time Kei-chan!" Shignio Kisumi greets. 

"How did your tattoo heal?" I enquire. 

"Looks good." The sakura pink haired man takes off his jacket to show off the centres of a sleeve that uses a LOT of techniques. I remember being so worried that I would mess up the general flow of his sleeve with my speciality tattoo medium, watercolour tattoos. He's kept on working on it too! The tattoos are all healed and there is an amazing yet unexpected flow of Aztec designs and traditional Japanese tattoos. My watercolour tattoo has been backed by Aztec designs by someone with a fine eye to continue the flow of the sleeve! It looks beautiful!

"Hey! Hana-chan! Where's Rei-kun?" I ask the sandy blonde girl with bright sleeves and peicings on her lip, nose, ears and one on her brow. 

"Hmmm, Rei-kun is in the back, talking to Mikoshiba." One of the co-workers of my age shrugs. Sei employed a lot of prodigy artists, reeled them in before other people found out how much talent they had. 

That's one of the "flaws" of our store, having such a young workforce. Only Sera, Sei and our outside artist aren't our age. Or at least Sei always said that this mysterious artist was older than me. Ryugazaki Rei is one of Sei's most talented workers, for someone so young too! He did his internship while still at art college, meanwhile, Nitori Aiichirou had already been working part time there, with Sei during his time at art college because he spent his third year at High School doing his internship part time, therefore extending it to a year's worth of "slave labour" as we call it.

"He's talking to Sei?" I cock a brow. 

"Indeed." Hana-chan nods her head.

"Kisumi-kun! When Rei-kun comes out of Sei's room you have to show him the finished sleeve!" I encourage.

"You and Rei-kun." Nitori Aiichirou scoffs before laughing. "He will love that sleeve, Shignio-san. It is weaved together beautifully."

"Oi!" Sera, my cousin's right hand man shouts. "You know how to treat interns!" I shudder. Bad memories. Six months of hell. Pay was good though, but as the tattoo artist I am now, I make double what I did in my internship.

I was treated like an object or a slave.

'Hold this Kei-kun! Do that, Kei-san! Kei this! Kei that! Don't want to do something, make the intertn do it.'

I can't have Kisumi-kun shoulder this, oblivious to how much of an impact his future co-workers laziness has on the intern. I remember Sera's excuse ''They have to be tested." I hated that Sera deemed this as fine. Most likely because he didn't need an internship. Some of us got to skip the hell that is an internship at Inked Heart, like Sera himself, or a contemporary artist, Chigusa Hanamura. 

"Ahh, you're already here." Sei greets with a wide smile, Rei flanking him.

His eyes veer to the now complete sleeve on Kisumi-kun's left arm. His beauty radar is clearly on. We had always teased Rei-kun about his attraction to beauty and beauty only. Aiichirou-san said that the only reason he's such a good friend of mine is my own alternative style of beauty. I always figured that my tattoos were what drew him in. I gave my cousin and Sei's younger sister, Mei a small watercolour tattoo of a bloody looking love heart being shot with an arrow and pinkish blood dripping from the exit point at the central point of my internship. It was only really after three months that Rei-kun would go out of his way to talk to me. 

"Okay Bros! We've got a new intern starting today! Some of you also have appointments today, Nitori..."

"Hai!" The silver haired guy with a beauty mark under his eye stands up straight, Sei still kind of scares him. My cousin does have a kind of aggressive enthusiasm to him.

"You and Chigusa and Sera have two appointments today, like myself. Ryugazaki, you have one this afternoon, so do you, Kei. The two of you will show our new bro the ropes and make him feel ever so welcome!" 

He means 'let him know how it is to be an intern before the more vindictive onces do.' 

"Sir yes sir!" Everybody chimes. 

"Anybody want a coffee?" There's a fancy American coffee shop that just opened down the street, called Starbucks, it gets quite a bit of business from our shop, since we send our clients out for a while for us to draw sketches in peace. 

My offer results in an order from everybody, even the store manager, Sei's girlfriend, Matsuoka Gou. 

"C'mon now, Kisumi-kun, Rei-kun! Let's get coffees!" I encourage. 

Rei-kun looks a little reluctant to go with us...why, he usually goes to get the coffees for us in the morning? Has he got a crush on one if the guys behind the counter like in so many cheesy novels?

We are spotted immediately after entering Starbucks. Now I get why Rei-kun was hesitant to come in as part of a group. Rei-kun's main client is stood behind the counter. Hazuki Nagisa, the unmarked cherub. He makes appointments, pats for the tattoo and then flees before he gets in contact with a needle. Must be awkward to see his tattoo artist at the coffee shop. 

"Rei-chan! Kei-chan! What'll it be?" the exuberant blonde beams, pad and pen in hand. 

We order and pay. Rei-kun is interrogated by Nagisa-kun, while Kisumi-kun simply stands dumbstruck.

"Sei wants us to ease you into your internship. Trust me, getting a coffee order wrong receives one of the worst penalties of them all! You have to keep going to the shop until you get the order right. All of the wrong orders are taken, by you, to where the homeless reside and you have to give them money as well as pay for all of the failed orders. Don't worry, Kisumi-kun, our orders don't change. We'll compile a list of the orders before Rei-kun and I check out and compare portfolios." I babble as we are handed the cardboard holders for coffee.


	2. Mikoshiba Kei's Log: What A Day To Wear White

Mikoshiba Kei's Log:

Today was a weird day, but when you work with Sei...every day is a weird day...today I had a very awkward clothing malfunction...

.

.

.

When Gou-chan said that Hazuki Nagisa was coming for an appointment, a lot of us were skeptical. Mainly Rei-kun and myself. Sei wasn't happy that the frequent walk out had made another appointment but at the same time, our shop makes money through his appointments. You have to pay in advance after all. 

 

Kisumi-kun was doing coffee runs "out of his own pocket" today, just going to and from the coffee shop, and between trips, he was handing out tracing paper and bringing ink from the stock room. It was pretty funny, because he kept on declaring he wouldn't be able to afford another coffee run and then one of us would conveniently slip enough yen for the next round of coffee. What can we say, it's a Saturday. A pretty much 24 hour day. On the plus side, we don't open on Sunday for that exact reason unless someone really important wants to be inked. 

 

"Excuse me, Kei-chan but I love your dress!" Gou-chan chimes in passing as I sketch two watercolour tattoos of a peacock resting on a large bunny. Who the hell would want that, I don't know. Maybe it means something to those people. I shrug. It does seem like a couple tattoo. That's sweet. I wish that I could get a couple tattoo, but Sei, Mei or Momo always scare any boyfriends I've had away. And I know that none of my co-workers have a romantic interest in me. It's a little bit depressing because my neighbours think that Rei-kun and I are together and it doesn't take a genius to tell that he's gay if you look close enough. But I'm probably saying that because he had to tell Sei that when my cousin got suspicious of how close we are. I sigh and slump down in my chair and look around the room. 

 

Nitori is in the middle of an extremely detailed monochromatic tattoo, I keep stealing glances at the progression and despite how inflamed the customer's skin seems to be, the work that the shy silver haired boy is doing is beyond anything I can do in mono. I mean, everybody here has some kind of speciality...

 

Sei is the king, and I mean the king of white ink, he can blend different types of white together to reflect amazing dimensions, almost as if there are different shades of white ink that only he can make people see. Sei is known all over the country for all of his intricate white tattoos. They work particularly well on skin like ours; tan. The Mikoshiba family has a very strong gene for rich tanned skin. My cousin has tattooed many of our relatives, during his amateur days and even now. I'm on Sei's waiting list for a white tattoo. I cannot wait until my cousin inks the back of my neck and down so it flows into the intricate flow on my back of different shades of grey and into black at the hips and the small of my back. It's very tasteful. 

 

Rei-kun is a master of animal tattoos, he can imagine, sketch and ink either photorealistic style animals or cartoonistic ones. He's really talented. I've seen him blend a lion on a guy's thigh into an Aztec design so well that I didn't think that someone as young as him could do that. Well, Rei-kun, Nitori and I are the same age as Hana and Gou but that doesn't stop his skills from being insane. 

 

Hana-chan is a girl with what can only be described as a shady past. She has rumours about her that say that she used to tattoo some of the biggest mobs in the country as a kid. Because who would believe a kid if they told someone that Kotaro Akira and his mob has been showing up at her house and needs her to tattoo newbies. Even though she denies it and says its the biggest bullshit ever, Hana-chan has never been able to justify her keen eye for detail in crests, logos and symbols. Whether she did tattoo them or not, Hana-chan is an amazing tattoo artist and is really bubbly and social with the customers. She looks probably the most intimidating due to the extremes that she has had tattooed on her arms, flamingos, canary yellow sports cars, I think there's a rubix cubs on each arm peacocks and pin ups in sailor suits riding giraffes. She says that only a few people will get the carnage on her arms but it sure is a conversation starter.

 

Nitori is good with monochrome and I specialise in watercolour. Sera is good with prints like tribal and Aztec. The skill set of Kisumi is beyond a mystery to me...

 

"Kei-chan~ Hello~" Kisumi's waving his hand in front of my face. 

 

"Oh, sorry." I snap back into it and look around. Was I daydreaming for long?

 

"It's fine, it's just, you seem to have spilt the red ink." I stare at my dress, and as Kisumi says, there is a pool of red tattoo ink dripping down onto the fabric from the table. He has a rag on hand to clean it up like what Sei would call 'A good little intern'. My face combusts. Oh god, why the red ink? The one day that I wear white. For goodness sake. 

 

"I need to go to my locker!" I declare, heading out to the small corridor opposite the stock room, there are lockers for our personal belongings in there. We are obligated to have a spare change of clothes in our locker at all times just in case something like this happens. But this is still embarrassing. 

 

I head to my locker, and look around the room before peeling off the sticky red and white dress and pulling on my shorts, as I reach for my white fringed shirt I hear someone clear their throat. 

 

"Your back piece is really coming along if I may say so, Kei-san." Honestly, I didn't know my face could get any hotter until I heard that distinctive baritone voice. I bet the tips of my ears are ablaze too. 

 

"You think so, it's not done until Sei does the top of it with the whites."

 

"Ahh, right, Mikoshiba-senpai hasn't finished the top part, you're having the pattern go from white into grey into black, right?" 

 

"Yep, now if you don't mind, can you turn away from a second."

 

"But I'm-."

 

"Please, for piece of mind. I know that you won't be attracted to me but can you just not look while I'm putting my shirt on...?" 

 

Bleep. Bleep. 

 

"Ahh, Nagisa-kun is going to be here soon for his consultation in a moment. I must go."

 

"Good luck with that, Rei-kun. I have 1000 yen and Monday's coffee order on him leaving before you get the needle on him."

 

"Nice bet. What does Nitori-san have his money on?"

 

"That he'll bolt before you get a needle out." I snort a laugh as Rei-kun leaves the room. I then pull on my shirt. 

 

"Kei!" My cousin barks. "You're out of action in your station, you'll be finishing up that sketch for Soku-san at my desk in my office, for you have no appointments today." I am told. 

 

"Right." I nod


	3. Mikoshiba Kei's Log: A Dodgy Bromance

Mikoshiba Kei's Log:

 

Today was a weird day, but when you work with Sei', every day is a weird day... today, I encountered a very dodgy bromance...

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

"Hey, you must be..." I glance at my list. "Andrews Fubuki and Soku Kaito, correct?" I raise a brow.

 

"That's us!" the duo come over to me to shake my hand in turn.

 

"Kai...she reminds me of someone..." 

 

"I agree. Kei-san does remind me of someone." 

 

"Hmm." I muse. "Maybe you've seen one of my cousins or something before." I shrug.

 

"Probably." They shrug in unison, following me to my station. 

 

"Kisumi's on drinks!" Hana calls. 

 

"KISUMI! GET ME THE USUAL!" Sera-senpai calls from his blocked off station. 

 

"ON IT!" The cheery pink haired boy bounds out of the tattoo shop with a skip in is step.

 

"So who's first?" I cock a brow.

 

"I am!" The clementine haired boy goes first. The stencils were sketched out by Sei's secret weapon. Nobody knows who it is that is so good with designs but whoever it is, is well respected around here.

 

The sun is shining on my neck as I finish putting the tattoo stencil on the second of the two guys. I never got couple tattoos; they are permanent and a lot of loves aren't. They're insisting that this is a friendship tattoo but that seems a bit weird. As I ready the inks I hear Sei tease the intern, Kisumi. He's nearing the end of his internship and will have to do his examination. It's always stressful to do that exam. Sei is a tough critic and since he is so dedicated to his business, he is the canvas that we all have had to use. 

 

Sei makes us tattoo him as our initiation into the world of tattoo artistry, His whole left leg is dedicated to our entrance pieces, it gets harder as you go on, for newbies have to make his leg piece flow, and considering that on one leg he has a watercoloured phoenix that blends into a monochromatic portrait tattoo, resting on the legs of a pin up girl. If he hates the tattoo he has it removed with a laser and the intern has to pay for that removal, so the pressure really does mount. 

 

"So, who is the bunny and who is the peacock?" I ask, as I get the first of the two; the slightly barer brunet with golden eyes, to sit on the chair so I can tattoo this piece onto his upper arm. 

 

"Kai is the bunny. I'm the peacock." the clementine haired guy shrugs. "He's shy and I'm not. These animals have stuck since our second year of high school." 

 

"Wow. What made you want them to be tattooed?"

 

"Honestly...we were playing twenty one dares, and our friends ganged up on us. It made sense to celebrate our relationship, especially since Fubu' is engaged."

 

"Oh really."

 

"Her names Katie."

 

"Oh?" I raise my pierced brow as I start to apply the ink to the peacock's face. 

 

"Yeah, she's amazing, and she totally gets this." Fubuki, the clementine haired one gestures between himself and the brunet that I'm tattooing. 

 

"They deviate from the boundaries of a bromance. But it's not a romance."

 

"Sup, Mei, you getting Rei to finish your tat'?"

 

"MEI! MIKOSHIBA MEI!"

 

"ANDREWS FUBUKI! I HAVEN'T SEEN YOU IN YEARS KYAHHH!" I roll my eyes at my cousin and the clementine haired man as they embrace. "I haven't seen you since you went into photography, Mei."

 

"Oh my GOD!" her eyes go wide. "WHEN THE HELL DID YOU ASK HER!"

 

"A few months ago." he blushes faintly.

 

"Mikoshiba Mei, Rei-san is ready for you now!"

 

"Thank you!" Mei chimes letting go of Fubuki and heads over to Rei-kun. 

 

"Did you go to school with Mei or something?"

 

"We did actually!" the brunet's eyes are shining.

 

"Oh my god, Kai! Kei-san looks like Mei!"

 

"OH MY GOD! THAT'S BEEN BUGGING ME SINCE I SAW YOU!" The brunet declares. 

 

"Oh..?" I raise my brows. 

 

"You guys okay over there?" Rei-kun asks.

 

"I'm good!" I chime with a bright smile, Rei-kun returns the gesture before pushing up his glasses and turning to Mei. Her tattoo was unfinished because he started it in a small break she had from work. 

 

I finish inking Kaito' peacock and begin to layer it before doing the watercolour dribbles, using paler shades of inks to provoke the illusion of the tattoo running. 

 

"Woah! Kai! I look great!"

 

"Vain." The brunet scoffs. 

 

.

 

.

 

I had to deal with the constant bickering for four straight hours of tattooing. No amount of booze that I'll buy at the bar tonight will get me over that.


	4. Mikoshiba Kei's Log: Cherry Blossom Hangover

Mikoshiba Kei's Log:

Today was a weird day, but when you work with Sei', every day is a weird day... today I found out about what happened after I left Rei at the bar...

.

.

.

It's weird, honestly, I ended up leaving Rei-kun in the bar at around two am. My younger cousin, of twenty one, Momo, was happy to take me home. Despite not working at Sei's shop yet, Momo knows that Rei is gay and I'm just his best friend from work. 

During last night's bar crawl, Rei lost a dare and now we need to find space in his body suit for a butterfly tattoo. I'm so glad I won that bet; the idea of getting a tattoo of Rei's signature on my butt would be so humiliating! I think any boyfriend I would get would speculate about a tattoo of a signature on my ass! At least a butterfly will fit into Rei-kun's whimsical body suit of tattoos. 

I wish I hadn't had that last sex on the beach. My head has been pounding all day. I've been here since seven and oh my god, I think my ears are going to bleed. I have nothing to do except refine some sketches that I was given for a client's tattoo. I've already had a consultation with this guy. This tattoo is for his son, Sakura. Funny, I know, but his name's Rin and his partner's name is Haruka. I can't think of a more fitting name than Sakura for a boy, especially after seeing a picture of that precious little tyke. He's beautiful; rich hair that is a blend of fuchsia and burgundy, with Bermuda blue eyes and a cheeky and cute smile. So adorable! I'm so glad to be honouring such a sweet kid by adding to his dad's cherry blossom body; Matsuoka Rin, my client, has soft cherry blossom half sleeves. He said to me that when he retired from swimming, he got those tattoos. It therefore wouldn't hinder his career.

"Morning, Kei-chan!" Kisumi, the intern chimes, putting a small box on my workstation, and then a glass of water. 

"I'm not going to judge you for having fun, Kei-chan; Rei-kun's really hungover. He hasn't actually slept!" 

"Oh Jesus, poor Rei-kun, lack of beauty sleep isn't beautiful." I tease, taking two pills from the box and taking the medication. 

"How was last night, Kei-chan? Was your date fun?" Kisumi asks, grabbing the spiny chair from Hana's station. She's tattooing someone's back so is on a more stable base chair than a revolving one. I begin to laugh, hand on my head, hating the pounding headache. 

"Rei-kun has no interest in me, Kisumi! I'm a single pringle. Simply taking advantage of an opportunity to go bar crawling."

"Can I come next time?" Nitori asks in passing, carrying a box, presumably full of the new specialised inks he purchased for his tattoos. 

"Sure why not?" I shrug. "You don't mind being subjected to weird ass bets, right?"

"Wait, how weird are we talking?"

"Rei-kun could have tattooed his signature onto my butt cheek if I lost the bet we made last night."

"JESUS, KEI-CHAN!" Nitori gasps. 

"Don't you have any shame, Kei?" Sei teases, ruffling my hair with a hearty laugh.

"Rei would have chickened out." I wave everybody off. 

"What makes you so sure?" Kisumi rolls closer to me. 

"I've lost bets before. I have had maybe one black dot put on my ass before he chickens out!" I snort a laugh. "I've tattooed like six butterflies on his butt. I'm running out of room."

"Ha! Butterfly...butt." Kisumi laughs, lolling his body onto mine. I roll my eyes. 

"Ooh~ Kei-chan! Did you draw this?" I am asked. I stare at what Kisumi is pointing at and sigh sadly. I wish I had drawn those reference images so well. The source of those incredible pieces is our anonymous source, he is emailed the images that are needed for some of the more complicated tattoo designs and draws concept art for us. Sei is the only one who knows him. At least I think that it's a he. All I know is that one of this individual's initials is an 'N'. I found that out by poking over my cousin's shoulder at the apparently wrong time.

"Oh!" Sei jumps upright. "That reminds me! Shignio! You haven't done your penultimate assignment yet!" 

"Penultimate assignment?" the peachy pink haired male cocks a brow. 

"You need to give me a legitimate suggestion as to who the artist behind these concept sketches are. Before Tuesday."

"TUESDAY! But...?"

"No butts, it's just a name. Without a valid guess, you cannot progress to your final assessment; finding out if you're ready to tattoo me is very very important."

"Sei's right, Kisumi."

"Right then! I'll guess with Matsuoka Gou!"

"Please, I said a legitimate guess." My cousin rolls his eyes. 

"You don't think that that's legitimate?" 

"Nope, it took you like thirty seconds to guess. That's too fast."

I begin to tune out the row behind me and put my headphones in, drawing away, producing sketch after sketch of a shark swimming through cherry blossoms.

.

I wasted a whole day trying to draw a sweet yet fierce pink shark to swim through cherry blossoms AND incorporate the name of Rin's son; Nanase Sakura. Never again will I complain about a hangover. Today was the worst!


	5. Mikoshiba Kei's Log: Butterfly Butt

Mikoshiba Kei's Log:

Today was a weird day, but when you work with Sei', every day is a weird day. Today I tattooed the butterfly on Rei's butt!

.

.

.

I can't believe what Rei-kun just told me when I was tattooing another butterfly on his ass. He's been busy. If I had stayed out when we went bar crawling, this wouldn't have happened! Thank gid for Momo! The Minishiba will be gifted with a cookie. Man, I sound weird. Let me elaborate.

Basically, what happened was, when Rei-kun and I went bar crawling and I left with Momo, a guy started to chat up my blue haired friend. Not just any somebody, apparently, it was Inked Heart's worst enemy, Hazuki Nagisa, the unmarked cherub! Rei-kun FINALLY convinced him to get a tattoo, after one of his old clients showed off his work. Turns out that the unmarked cherub isn't so unmarked after all, he already has a tattoo. He has some sort of trust issue because his first one turned out so terribly. And despite wanting tattoos, he's afraid that they'll turn out looking like his first one, it's on his shoulder. Rei-kun has made some sort of deal with him; apparently, my blue haired friend is going to give Nagisa a cover-up piece for free! Free! Like seriously, he's giving the blond a free tattoo!

I finish up with the seventh butterfly and put my inks away.

"Fuck, I forgot how painful this is."

"You'll have to get used to your ass hurting, Rei-kun." I sneer as his face combusts, he's redder than I've ever seen him go.

"Ahh, that's better." Rei sneers in retaliation, doing up his skinny jeans.

"You're so used to your ass hurting that you'll be fine, you seem to be good as soon as you've put on your pants."

"I need to be, I have to do Hazuki-kun's cover up tattoo today."

"What did he have?" I ask.

"Some small cartoonish bird head. I'm going to tattoo a penguin on top of the weird bird." he shrugs.

"You're so chill about this." I muse, opening the curtains. Sei would kill me if I had the nerve to tattoo Rei-kun when neither of us had appointments because he deems exposure of one's ass to be inappropriate. He understands our humour but would rather us be tasteful. So instead we do these dares before opening the shop up, once our hangovers are gone, that is.The first person to join is in the shop is the experienced Sera-senpai. He doesn't tend to acknowledge us because he thinks we're rowdy and immature. Maybe we are. 

This is so boring, waiting for some fun, at least the younger staff, par Hanamura and Kou, who are more concerned about Sera's opinion of them.Slowly but surely Nitori, Hana, Kou and the others file in. It's really exciting, waiting for the information about today's clients. I've finally finished the tattoo for Matsuoka Rin. All I have to do is ink it on his back. That, and I have another consultation today. My day is relatively chill. Rei has two consultations and that cover-up to do.

"MORNING! " Sei's booming voice makes me jump. 

"Morning." I smile at my cousin. 

"Are you done tattooing Ryugazaki's ass now, Kei?" 

"Yep! The seventh butterfly complete." I grin.

"Great! Hana, you need to do your sketches and finalise your stencils. Sera, you've got an eight hour back piece to work with. Nitori, you have to add the colour to Tachibana-san's blue mermaid pin-up. Kei, you're free until three, unless you have work to catch up on. Now Rei, you have a tattoo to be done on HAZUKI NAGISA! " 

"Brilliant, money without wasting resources. " Sera mutters. 

"Rude, Sera." Sei says.

"Yeah yeah." the brunet waves my cousin off. This is just their thing. So we can't have our banter and ass tattooing but they can have a merry war like Benedict and Beatrice have in Much Ado About Nothing. How unfair! 

It doesn't take much longer for Kisumi to arrive, arms full of coffees, Hana holds the door for him so he can come in and hand out the beverages.

"Morning Kei-chan!" the pink haired guy smiles. 

"Any closer to working out who draws for us?" I ask. It's an impossible task to do. None of us have succeeded in finding out who it is. It's not even an initiation, it's just something to amuse Sei. "Not yet." he admits. Aw. I actually feel sort of bad for him. 

"Rei-chaaaaaannn!" Oh no. Hazuki Nagisa runs into the shop, skip in his step, fully aware that Rei will have a stencil prepared for the blond. From where I stand , I can see sexual tension. Poor Nagisa-kun, unable to have um...intimacy with my friend until his ass is fully heeled. 

"He's eager for once." Sera says.

"Oi, Kei, you're free until three, right?" Sei asks. I nod. 

"Then let's do your back." my cousin smiles, holding up a bottle of white ink and a stencil. I grin. Hell yes! Finally, my back tattoo will be completed! 

.

To think that Hazuki Nagisa finally got a tattoo here is incredible. Rei-kun's penguin turned out amazingly. And so did my back piece, yeah I'll have to wear crop shirts for the next few days while the bottom of my back heals, but it's worth it!


	6. Mikoshiba Kei's Log: Sources

Mikoshiba Kei's Log:

Today was a weird day, but when you work with Sei', every day is a weird day. Today I finally met the source of our concept art...

.

.

.

I add the shading to Matsuoka Rin's blossom covered shoulder blade. 

"I'm ever so sorry that we didn't finish the other week." I say as I blend shades of pink together. The bell on the door chimes. It's Kisumi. He went on a coffee run, or so he said. But there are no drinks. I pout, I thought I was getting coffee. There's someone stood beside the pink haired male. 

"MIKOSHIBA-SAMA!" Kisumi shouts. 

"What's up, Shignio?" Sei jogs out of his office. The pink haired male steers the dark haired guy to stand in front of him. 

"Oi! Haru! What are you doing here!" My client calls from his place on the chair. "Where the hell is Sakura!"

"Makoto is babysitting, Rin." Wait... Matsuoka Rin's a guy with a girly name, in a relationship with a guy with a girly name, and they have a son. Who. Also. Has. A. Girly. Name. This shouldn't be so sweet! Oh my god! 

My jaw drops as I meet the eyes of the blue orbed male. I know him. I've tattooed him! I did a pink dolphin diving into a sea of cherry blossoms on his back around four months ago. I had to blend it into a piece already on his back, of a dolphin, an orca, a shark, penguin and butterfly swimming together. It's not like butterflies can swim but... it was a truly beautiful piece. He said he got it done when he visited Miami or something. 

"Ahh, hello Nanase!" Sei shakes Haruka's hand. 

"Shignio...HOW?!? I know that it's past the deadline, but this is truly amazing! You have found our secret source! How did you manage?"

"I had seen that shark drawing online. I went onto the drawing website; that took weeks, since I subscribe to so many of them, and eventually found Nanase Haruka. It's not that hard when you spend all of your time getting as many influences thrown at you as possible." Shignio Kisumi strikes a theatrical pose. 

"What's going on over there, Rei-chan?" The bubbly voice of Hazuki Nagisa chimes from Rei-kun's station. He's getting his fourth tattoo with us now. I don't get most of these ideas, maybe they are simply an excuse to spend time with Rei-kun, but now there is a butterfly with his penguin, and a gun on his left arm, as well as a knife on the other. Rei's tattooing 'Thug Lyfe' on Nagisa's chest. The blue haired tattoo artist is redder than a tomato while he inks his current boyfriend's chest. Where he's getting this cash from, who knows. 

"Seems that Kisumi-kun found out who supplies us with concept art." Rei-kun pushes up his glasses.

"Shignio, you have passed all of my tests, you can now put ink to my skin."

The pink haired man's face lights up like a Christmas tree. He runs to his tiny desk and produces a stencil and puts it on the gap in Sei's inked skin. It fits perfectly. The image is of a lion, or so it seems. There are drawings, concept arts, on Kisumi's table. The male lion will have a gold face and his appearance will be conventional however its eyes will be same sort of pink as Kisumi's hair. Way to personalise it, nice touch. 

I smile as the intern puts ink to another person's skin for the first time, tongue sticking out, and his concentration is obvious. 

.

It's moments like these, where things are just so meaningful yet so weird. Moments like these that make Inked Heart the best place to work. 

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The End


End file.
